Sheet rubber product



Aug. 8, 1933- w. w. DE LANEY SHEET RUBBER PRODUCT Original Filed Jan.16, 1931 5 Sheets-sheet 1 Aug. 8, 1933. w. w. DE LANEY SHEET RUBBERPRODUCT Original Filed Ja n. 16, 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 m'/A////// /AA///A/ ////AAA/ //A// Z /A///// //n// ///////nA/// gmwm Aug. 8, 1933- w. w.DE LAN'EY SHEET RUBBER PRODUCT Original Filed Jan. 16, 1931 aSheet-Sheet s P emed Au 8, 1933 SHEET RUBBER PRODUCT Wallace W. DeLaney,

New Haven, Conn., as- I signor to The Seamless Rubber CompanyIncorporated, New Haven, Conn.

Original application January 16, 1931, Serial No.

Divided and this application January 19, 1932, Serial No. 587,526, andin Germany March 11, 1931 5 Claims.

This invention'relates to a new sheet rubber product, the presentapplication being a division of my application, Serial No. 509,110,filed Januany 16, 1931.

The invention-relates especially to sheet rubber such as used in themanufacture of bathing caps and similar articles, in which the materialbefore vulcanization is subjected to an operation by .which the rubberis displaced to create a multiplicity of small bosses or protuberanceson the sheet.

One of theobjects of the present invention is to produce thoroughlycrinkled sheet rubber having an attractive appearance and otherproperties desirable for the production of bathing caps.

Another object is to furnish a crinkled rubber sheet embossed in such amanner that in appearance it resembles an attractive textile fabric.

To these and other ends the invention consists in the novel features tobe hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of an apparatus or machine fortreating sheetrubber in accordance with my invention;

'Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof;

Fig. 3 is a top plan'view of the machine;

Fig. 4 is asection on line 4-4 of Fig. 1; Y

Fig. 5 is an enlarged longitudinal section, on line 5-5 of Fig. 1,through the upper part of the machine.

Fig. 6 is a view somewhat smaller than actual size showing portions ofthe rolls;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged section on line 7-'7 of Fig. 6, showing the ribbedroll, this view being considerably larger than actual size;

, Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view on the same scale as Fig. '7 of a portionof the ribbed roll;

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary face view of the material after it has passedthrough the first .pair of rolls, the protuberances being larger thantheir actual'size, and this view showing that face of the material whichis contacted by the ribbed roll of said pair;

Fig. 94 is a fragmentary view of the material shown in Fig. 9, butexhibiting the opposite or under face thereof;

Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig. 9 showing the same face of thematerial after it has passed through the second set 'of rolls; and Fig.11 is a fragmentary view of a portion of the material on a smaller scalethan Fig. 10 taken from the same side of the sheet.

By my novel method, I form bumps and alternating valleys or depressionson a sheet of undetail, the bumps and valleys first produced can besubdivided so that in the aggregate a great many bumps and depressionsare produced which cause the sheet to be crinkled very completely and tobe given a very attractive appearance. I have also discovered that byfeeding the sheet between rotary surfaces, one of which presentscircumferentially a number of interruptions so as to provide anintermittent grip upon the sheet while the other surface is moving at asubstantially higher rate of speed, it is possible to produce in onepass of the material through the rolls a deep crinkle characterized by anumber of valleys and ridges running approximately parallel to eachother and parallel to the length of the sheet being treated. Byproviding one of the rolls with ribs so disposed that they have atransverse movement in a direction at an acute angle to the direction offeed of the sheet, and by causing the other roll to rotate at asubstantially faster speed, it is possible to cause considerablethickening of the sheet by deep crinkling thereof and packing of theplastic material into the spaces between the ribs. Then by subjectingthe material to a further operation of the same kind but in which thebiased or oblique ribs act at angles to the action of thefirst-mentioned ribs, the protuberances can be subdivided and a numberof additional longitudinal ridges'produced so as to create in the sheeta somewhat irregular and unmechanical embossed surface effect whichavoids a machine made appearance. The two sets of ribs above referred tomightibe expected to create a number of diagonally disposed lines whichintersect to produce fairly prominent small squares or like figures bythe pressing of the material along the ridges of the ribs, but as amatter of fact there is an almost total absence -of checkerboard effectand the projections are quite irregular in contour and in generalpresent the eifect of an irregularly woven rough-surfaced twill or likefabric. This I ascribe to the fact that in the production of thematerial thereare formed a number of longitudinal ridges or line effectswhich are pressed into the sheet and are at acute angles to the ridgesof the roll ribs which impinge upon the sheet, and I also ascribe thenew effect in part to a peculiar thickening or packing up of thematerial in the spaces between the diagonal ribs at the roll bite underthe influence of the smooth mating roll which preferably rotates at asubstantially higher speed than the ribbed roll.

In carrying out my invention, I prefer to employ a single machine havingsets of rolls in tandem arrangement so that a long sheet can undergo twoor more rolling operations in a continuous process. By preference thesheet, after passing between rolls in which the ribbed roll is at oneface of the sheet, passes through another set in which the ribbed rollis at the opposite face, and after the long sheet passes through the onemachine, which imparts all of the crinkling desired, it can bevulcanized so as to hold the crinkling permanently in the material.

In the machine shown in the drawings, two sets of rolls arranged intandem are shown as located upon a table-like frame 11. The first rollstand is shown at 12 and the second at 13. It will be observed that theupper roll of the first set, which is indicated at 14, is a helicallyribbed roll, whereas the lower mating roll 15 is a smooth roll; alsothat the lower roll 15 is of somewhat larger diameter than the roll 14.In the second set, the roll 14' is similar to roll 14, but in this caseis lowermost, whereas roll 15', which is similar to roll 15, isuppermost. Preferably the two sets are so arranged that the bite of thesecond set is horizontally alined with that of the first set. The rollsare journaled in the usual or any preferred bearing blocks and anyamount of pressure required can be exerted upon the sheet as it passesbetween the rolls of a given pair by suitable pressure devices, which inthis case comprise the pressure screws 16 and 1'7 which act upon thebearing blocks of the lowermost rolls. It will be obvious that byadjustment of the screws, the pressure exerted upon the rubber sheet canbe changed as required, and in practice there is a considerable amountof pressure exerted upon the sheet in creating crinkled effects such asI have especially in view.

In each roll set the large smooth roll is driven materially faster thanthe mating ribbed roll, and in the second set the rolls are driven moreslowly than the corresponding rolls of the first set. This is due to thefact that the sheet is thickened up rather than thinned or reduced bythe rolling operation which is effected. In the particular instanceshown, it. can be assumed that the surface speed of roll 14 is 49 feetper minute, that that of roll 15 is 112 feet per minute, that that ofroll 14 is 45 feet per minute,

and that the surface of roll 15' moves at the rate of 100 feet perminute. These are speeds which have been shown to be satisfactory inactual practice, but they are mentioned merely by way of illustration.The drive mechanism for producing these relative speeds of rotation canbe of any preferred type, and the following description of theparticular drive mechanism shown in the drawings is merely by way ofexample. V

In the machine shown, the power for rotating the rolls is furnishedbyan'electric motor 18 which drives a transverse shaft 19 in the lowerpart of the frame of the machine. From whereas shaft 29 through belt 31drives roll 15.

While I do not desire to limit myself to any particular dimensions, Imay mention certain dimensions as illustrative and in order to give abetter understanding of the nature of the ornamentation which iseffected in the preferred practice of my invention. In one machine whichhas been constructed, the rolls l4 and 14, which are the ribbed rolls,have a diameter of 4 inches, while the rolls l5 and 15', which are theplain-surfaced rolls, are 6 inches in diameter. The rolls 14 areprovided with helical ribs 14 which in this case are about ten to theinch, and arranged at an angle of approximately 45 to the direction oftravel of the sheet through the machine. The rolls 14 and 14' are or maybe identical, but owing to the fact that one is the upper roll and theother the lower roll of a set, the lines of pressure on the sheet of theribs of one of the ribbed rolls will intersect approximately at rightangles the lines of pressure of the'ribs of the other ribbed roll. Inthe particular case illustrated, the ribs are formed by V-shaped helicalcuts in the roll, the angle of the V being about 60, and the ridges ofthe ribs thus formed present flat portions 14 about .015 inch wide,which flat portions are adapted to confine the sheet between them andthe opposing surface of the large plain-surfaced roll when the materialis in the bite of the rolls.

In the operationof the machine above described, a long sheet ofunvulcanized rubber which is usually quite thin and which customarilyhas a width of, say, 30 inches, is fed into the first set of rolls 14and 15, and from these rolls it passes between the rolls 15, 14, andthence out of the machine. After the sheet has been entered between thefirst set of rolls, it will be observed that it is drawn lengthwise bythe rolls of said first set and that a number of longitudinal ridges orpleats are formed. As the material issues from the first set of rollsits upper surface has the appearance shown in Fig. 9, which figure,however, shows the material on a somewhat magnified scale. The ridges ofthe ribs of roll 14 cause the sheet to be marked with a plurality ofnarrow parallel lines, as shown in Fig. 9, these lines being at an acuteangle (for example, 45) to the direction of feed of the sheet. Theseparallel lines are indicated in Fig. 9 by reference character 32.Betweenthe lines it will be found that the sheet has raised portions orprotuberances 33 extending upwardly, and depressed portions or valleys34 which extend downwardly. It will be observed, also, that thedepressions or valleys between the different pairs of lines are disposedin lines generally parallel to the direction of travel of the sheet andthat they form generally longitudinal creases in the upper surface ofthe material and that there are corresponding generally longitudinalridges at the lower surface of the material. This lining up of thedepressions between the protuberances and especially the lining up 33and the depressions 34 are made of considertween the ribs.

able depth so that the sheet is well crinkled.

The formation of the' lengthwise creases by the lining up of theindividual depressions or valleysmay be due to some extent to thescrewlike action of the upper roll having the helical ribs thereon whichtend to move the material in a direction transversely of the sheet.' Thelower roll having the plain surface has a considerably higher surfacespeed than. the ribbed roll, and as the material is confined between thetwo rolls, as shown in Fig. '7, the tendency of the more rapidlyrotating roll is believed to be to produce a displacement of thematerial by stretching it in a direction generally transverse to theridges of the confining ribs by which it is pressed against the smoothroll and to pack the material to some extent in the spaces be- It willbe observed from Fig. 7 that the ribs, which have abodily movementsomewhat transversely t0 the direction of feed of the sheet, present ineffect a plurality of ridges.

teeth between-which the material is displaced out of the plane of thesheet. The ribs or teeth have a very effective feeding action on thesheet and by asort of plowing action cause the material between theridges of adjacent ribs to be displaced in a direction which issubstantially transverse to the lines-at the ridges of the ribs.Whatever may be the particular action that takes place between therolls, the result of the operation of these rolls upon the material .isthe satisfactory crinkling'of the sheet by the creation of relativelydeep protuberances and depressions and a considerable reduction both inthe width and length of the sheet.

When the material has been acted upon by the first set of rolls, thereis a readily discernible difference betweenthe two .faces of the sheet.The protuberances on the upper face of the sheet are of larger size thanthe depressions (Fig. 9), whereas at the opposite or lower surface ofthe sheet the depressions are larger than the protuberances, ,as shownin Fig. 9

As the material issues from the first set of rolls, it moves lessrapidly than the incoming material and passes to the second set of rollswhich, as above explained, are driven more slowly than the correspondingrolls of the first set. In between the sets, however, the materialmaintains the longitudinal creases and intervening These ridges arefurther pressed into the sheet by the second set of rolls. In thissecond set of rolls the ribbed roll is lowermost and acts upon theopposite surface of the sheet from that acted upon by roll 14, and suchlines of pressure on the sheet as are created by the ridges of the ribsor roll 14 cross the lines created by roll 14, usually at approximatelyright angles. The effect of the second set of rolls is to subdivide theprotuberances and depressions and to alter their shapes, as will be seenby comparing Fig. 10 with Fig. 9. It will be noted that in Fig. 10 theprotuberances are more irregularly shaped and smaller than those of Fig.9, this being due to the action of the second set of rolls, and afurther important effect produced by the action of the second set is tomake visible on the sheet a considerable number of fairly shortirregular raised lines of bumps running generally lengthwise of thesheet, these lines being diagonal to the figures formed by the crossingof the rib lines of the respective sets of rolls and being staggered andcreating an irregular but artistic effect which is similar in agene'ral'way to that produced in a somewhat irregularly woven twillfabric.

Another efiect produced by passing the material through the rolls of thesecond pair is that the two surfaces of the sheet are in this mannergiven a substantially identical, or, at any rate, a very similarappearance, so that in many cases it will be immaterial which surfaceappears at the outer part of the finished article, although in othercases one surface may be noticeably superior to the other from thestandpoint of appearance. ticular material shown, it is to be understoodthat while the upper surface only is illustrated, the lower surface issubstantially the same as the upper surface. While in Fig. 10 of thedrawings (which illustrate the material under considerable magnificationand before vulcanizing), there appear a number of irregularly In thecase .of the par-- shaped figures, some of them elongated, having curvedcontours, it should be understood that these figures do not definesurfaces which lie wholly above the general plane of the sheet, becausethe fact is that the surfaces intended to be represented are crinkledand a considerable number have depressed as well as raised portionstherein, and therefore have parts which project downwardly from thegeneral plane of the sheet, and other parts which project upwardlytherefrom. Thus, it will be understood that the appearance of thecompletely crinkled sheet at the under side will be substantially thesame as shown in Fig. 10.

Long sheets of material can be very satisfactorily treated by my newmethod, and the complete operation of crinkling by passing the sheetbetween two sets of rolls can be very quickly performed. The second setof rolls act upon the material very promptly after the operation of thefirst set, and therefore assist in setting the crinkles formed in thefirst set before such crinkles can be lost to any appreciable degree.After the material has passed out of the second set of rolls it shouldbe vulcanized so that the crinkles will be permanently held in the sheetstructure. If the crinkled sheet is left unvul-. canized for asubstantial period of time, there is apt to be a flattening out of thematerial with a loss of some of the crinkling.

By having the second set of rolls act on the material while the latteris held at another point between the first set of rolls, the effect ofthe second set and of the operation as a whole is noticeably improved ascompared to the performance of rolling operations by pairs of rollsthrough which the material does not pass continuously. In some casesadditional sets of crinkling rolls can be provided so that the tandemwill have more than two sets operating on the material. In other casesthe operation of a single set or group of rolls will suflice to give theornamentation desired.

By carrying out the process as above described, that is, by having aribbed roll act on one face of the material and then a ribbed roll act 1the crinkled material which I prefer to use for the manufacture ofbathing caps, aprons, doilies, etc., but it will be understood that bymaking changes in the details of the process the crinkling effect can beconsiderably varied. It will also be understood that I do not limitmyself in all aspects of the invention to a process in which thecrinkling ribs of the machine act first upon one face of the materialand then upon the opposite face.

Various changes may be made in the ornamented material and in thedetails of the process and apparatus for making the same withoutdeparting from the scope of my invention. While I have herein describedthe manner in which I prefer to practice the invention, I do not wish tolimit myself to all of the details shown and described. Manymodifications may be made within the scope of the invention as definedin the claims.

What I claim is:

1. An elongated sheet of rubber having a multiplicity of parallel linesimpressed on the sheet on the bias, the material of the sheet betweenthe lines presenting a multiplicity of alternating protuberances anddepressions, the depressions disposed in a plurality of series which rungenerally lengthwise of the sheet to form valleys therein.

2. Crinkled rubber sheeting having a multiplicity of alternatingprotuberances and depressions arranged in lines intersecting each othersubstantially at right angles, the protuberances and depressions havingan irregular contour, and there being a plurality of irregularlydisposed but generally parallel ridges on the surface of the sheet whichrun substantially diagonally to the figures created by the aforesaidintersections.

3. Crinkled rubber sheeting having a multiplicity of alternatingprotuberances and depressions arranged in lines intersecting each othersubstantially at right angles, the protuberances and depressions havingan irregular contour, and there being a plurality of irregularlydisposed but generally parallel ridges on the surface of the sheet whichrun substantially diagonally to the figures created by the aforesaidintersections, the surface at one face of the sheetbeing substantiallythe same as that at the opposite face.

4. Crinkled rubber sheeting having a multiplicity of small protuberancesand depressions arranged in parallel lines intersecting each other, theprotuberances and depressions having an irregular contour, and therebeing a plurality of irregularly disposed but generally parallel ridgeson the surface of the sheet which run substantially diagonally to thefigures created by the intersecting lines.

5. Highly elastic sheeting comprising a thin sheet of vulcanized rubberof substantially uniform constituency throughout its cross-sectiondeeply crinkled to present in the material of the sheet a multiplicityof small protuberances and depressions, said sheet having a series ofparallel lines impressed therein and a further series of parallel linesimpressed therein at an angle to the first series, the protuberances anddepres sions being within the areas or figures bounded by theintersecting lines, said sheet having a plurality of irregularlydisposed but generally parallel ridges on its surface extendingsubstantially diagonally with respect to such areas or figures, andsaid-ridges being formed by a number of adjacent protuberances.

WALLACE W. DE LANEY.

